Subscribe to this blog

Follow by Email

Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day - July 2013

Here in my USDA Hardiness Zone 6a garden in central Indiana, I rejoice this summer for all the rain and "normalness" we've had, weatherwise.

As many others experienced or recall, last year was the hottest, driest summer we have ever lived through in this part of the United States. It set all kinds of records that I hope never to see broken. My bloom day post for July 2012 shows a pathetic lack of blooms.

This year the garden is blooming and showing all kinds of blooms in mid-summer.

Shall we take a walk around the backyard and see what we can see?

Please ignore all of the weeds, tree seedlings and general lack of deadheading, as this has also been a busy summer, and I was on vacation out of town for ten days just a week ago.

We'll step off the patio, past this container which contains a banana plant and some vinca.

Common banana plant with vinca flowers

In the corner of the fence, a hydrangea is beginning to really bloom.

Hydrangea paniculata 'Limelight'

I need to put something around her, just to keep her company and to crowd out those weeds.

We'll head down a path now called Ridgewood Avenue where we can see the "backside" of the August Dreams Garden border.

Eupatorium dubium 'Little Joe'

The joe-pye weed is beginning to bloom, already!

Further down, a tall white phlox is showing its stuff.

Phlox paniculata 'David'

It glows at night.

We'll leave this border now, and head over to the Vegetable Garden Cathedral.

Dill setting seed

The first thing you'll smell and see is the dill. It's tall and setting seed. I need to cut that back or I will have a garden full of dill seedlings next year. That's the nice thing about dill. Once you plant it, if you let it go to seed, you will have dill for the rest of your life. That's also a not very nice thing about dill.

Elsewhere in the garden, the corn is tasseling.

Corn

Those aren't the prettiest flowers, but they are a sign of some sweet corn that I will surely be picking in another week or so.

Leaving the vegetable garden,we come around to another garden border called The Shrubbery.

Buddleia variety not remembered

This was planted last year and the year before, and this year the entire area has been growing and filling in. Next to my chair is a dwarf blue butterfly bush and some potentilla. That potentilla has been blooming all summer long.

No time to rest, we are coming up now to Plopper's Field.

Heliopsis 'Loraine Sunshine' and Phlox paniculata

Pink tall phlox and variegated ox-eye daisies are competing for brightest color on the edge of this garden border.

The main section of the border shows just how "full" Plopper's Field has become.

Plopper's Field looking south

It also shows that I have not been diligent in dead heading flowers. Please look past the seed heads of the salvia and see the pretty daylilies.

Or walk around the border and see the daisies and coneflowers.

Plopper's Field looking east

They are flanked by tall Michaelmas daisies that I did not have time to cut back in late May so they wouldn't get so tall. Oops. Now we'll see how floppy they get in September when they bloom.

One more view of Plopper's Field from the other side.

Plopper's Field looking north

I should title this bloom day post "I'll show you my mess of a garden if you show me yours". I see weeds everywhere.

I also see a clematis scampering through the serviceberry tree on the corner of Plopper's Field.

Clematis triternata 'Rubromartinata'

This clematis has scampered its way to the top of this tree, which is about 15 feet tall. I tried to get a picture of it, but my photography skills would not allow it.

Let's go around to the front garden to see some blooms there, too.

Burpee's Cool Wave® Pansies

I long ago ripped out most of the pansies and violas, but left this container of them because they didn't look half-bad. They are still doing well, even though it is summer time. They probably didn't get the message that pansies don't do well in the summer time. Now that they've gone this far into the season, I'm going to keep them going for as long as I can.

On the other side of the sidewalk, in a border I have yet to name, some pink coreopsis self-seed themselves around every year and I just let them be.

Coreopsis rosea with Ceratostigma plumbaginoides

Those bigger leaves are not their leaves, by the way. They belong to another plant, leadwort.

There are other flowers to see, but nothing else too exciting in the front, where the theme is "let's not go all wild so they think a crazy gardener lives here". We'll return to the back where we started, and admire the black-eyed Susan's in August Dreams Gardens.

Rudbeckia hirta

We can stand here and talk about how green the lawn is, how plentiful the rain has been, all my weeds, or you can show me what's blooming in your garden.

What is blooming in your garden in mid-July? I'd love to see and read about whatever it is that brightens your garden on the 15th of every month.

Please join in with your own Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day post. Just post on your blog about what is blooming this month in your garden and then come back here and leave a link to your blog post in the Mr. Linky widget below along with a brief comment to entice us to virtually visit your garden.

The rules for Garden Blogger’s Bloom Day are simple... no rules! You can include pictures, lists, no lists, common names, botanical names, whatever you’d like to do to showcase your blooms. You can post early, you can post late. We are grateful for whatever you share with us. Thank you, and all are welcome!

Your gardens are looking great and so full of color. For a spring and summer with a slow start the gardens have certainly caught up and are ahead of schedule here on Long Island in some cases. Thank you for hosting another Garden Blogger's Bloom Day-such fun seeing all the blooms!

Happy GBBD! It's very hot and humid here in Japan, so I have a few plants flowering now... Your garden looks gorgeous!! Especially love the Clematis"Rubromartinata", they are lovely! Thank you for hosting!!

I am glad you are getting some rain this summer, we are too, but we have been fortunate to dodge the flooding others in the South have gotten. If you ever plant fennel, follow the same advice you gave us on the dill, it sure can be weedy. Thank you for hosting yet again, and happy GBBD!

I have to say I am very envious of your dill. It would seem that I have a lot to learn about the positioning of this herb. This year I have sown it with the protection of a north facing wall only to find that the wind has hit the wall and flattened it all.

Your garden is looking lovely, I've been in Hydrangea envy ever since freakish cold snaps killed all mine, so today I bought a blue lacecap one that is supposed to be hardy to zone 4, so I hope I can keep enjoying it. I'm happy with you for the return of your rain.

My post was really quick today because I'm heading in to the city in a few seconds, but it gave me a good reason to step out and enjoy my garden this morning! Love to all the garden bloggers, I'll be visiting you later to see how things are going in your gardens! Michele

Your garden is looking really full with gorgeous flowers everywhere. I envy you your rain, we are desperate for some, last year it was non stop rain, this year it is non stop sun and heat. Your garden is ahead of ours, maybe we will catch up one day, my phlox are only just starting to form flower buds.

OOh beautiful flowers! Please do not call the Banana common, it is very attractive and elegant looking and gives that tropical touch to a garden. Your corn looks lovely, I can't grow because of bugs and monkeys. Have a great week Carol.

Your garden is looking so lovely Carol. If it makes you feel better about the weeds, I have some that are taller than me.. But rusty duck is a garden under renovation, so I keep telling myself that makes it all right. It does, doesn't it??

Thanks for hosting this, May! I have a number of things in bloom that you do (hydrangea, lilies) but you are ahead with others. My phlox are not yet ready. I adore dill so I do let some of mine go to seed. Nothing more delicious than lettuce, tomato, cuke, peppercorn ranch dressing and dill :) The perfect summer salad.

You banana looks great! I always love those but haven't tried to grow one yet...there's no end to the things to try later. I'm behind you just a little with Little Joe eupatorium and Phlox paniculata, but they're coming along. You did a good job keeping your weeds out of the photos, or else I'm so used to seeing them in mine that I just didn't notice any! Happy GBBD, Carol. ~ Daricia

Happy more normal summer to you! We're having splendid weather here in the Pacific Northwest. I love the names you have for various areas of your garden which looks great BTW. Thanks for continuing to host GBBD & and I hope it's a happy one for all!

Carol, we share a lot of similarities--I was just remembering, too, how awful it was last year and thinking how thankful I am for all the rain this year. I also asked my readers to put on their "weed blinders" today:)

I just love your tiger lily! I keep telling myself there is no more room here right now for more lilies, but I might have to squeeze in one of these. And thanks for the tip on dill--I won't mind a little bit of it re-seeding this year and the next and the next...

There are worse things to be called than a "crazy gardener":) Happy Bloom Day!

I love your big sweeps of perennials, Carol. It's something I can't accomplish in my small back garden, but I do have some sunset-colored offerings for Bloom Day. Thank you for hosting, and enjoy your great weather!

Hey Carol,Your post almost made me feel as though I was there. I really could smell the dill! Anyway, I really like the name "plopper's field," and will, because of your inspration, be naming my garden areas to keep them straight. Thanks for inviting me to your bloom day!

Your mid summer garden is looking very vibrant and healthy! Here in my zone 9b garden in Central California, we have had 19 consecutive days of triple digit heat and of course no rain. Yet there are some plants that still manage to bloom!

Hey, it wouldn't be a real garden without weeds! (At least that's what I tell myself on a regular basis...) I'm impressed that your corn is tasseling out already. In this area, it's only about waist high so far. Thanks for hosting!

Your hydrangea & clematis make me sigh but your Plopper's Field makes me laugh. I also tell myself, "let's not go all wild so they think a crazy gardener lives here". Bet there are many of us keeping a low profile in front while the back is up for anything!

The main GBBD post just went up, but the list of botanical names for Annie's Addendum will be late.

Your garden is looking lush and bloomiferous. I think I need an August Dreams Garden area like yours; my garden feels like it's winding down for the year or at least in a transition. Thanks for hosting.

Another Bloom Day in the can really, really late at night. Glad to have gotten home to visit my garden for this month's post. For all the blossoms, seems there may be some food coming on in a few weeks.

Love your attitude of 'I'll show you my mess if you show me yours'! The garden always does seem a bit of a mess in July, but I always thought it was because of our heat here. Makes me feel better to know it's more of a widespread mess. Although, your garden in the phlox 'David' picture looks quite stunning and beautiful. I can see no mess there! Thanks for hosting.

So lovely to see all this Carol - and do tell me, what is the 'sculpture' behind your rudbeckias? Your Clematis triternata is stunning - I am trying to re-establish one but I think it has had it for this year:(

I'm straggling in too. Hey, look at all of your flowers both veg and pure ornament! Look at all of those photos. So pretty. So cool. It's been a good summer here so far. We're faring well also in Oklahoma.~~Dee

What a wonderful set of flowers, radiant all over the yard(s). I notice the Adirondack chair and I wonder what the lifetime of that chair is. We had some beautiful wood chairs that we got from Land's End and they rotted in less than 5 years. We've just replaced them with chairs made from recycled plastic that are said to be 'permanent'. We shall see...

Thanks so much for hosting Carol. I love how this is a 'no rules' event. I was feeling guilty for posting a few days late, but your note made me feel much better. I look forward to this each month, and you don't know how much it inspires me!